Railroad personnel working in proximity to railroad tracks need to be aware of approaching incoming trains. One way to warn personnel is to designate a person as a lookout or flagperson. The responsibility of the lookout is to watch for incoming trains. Upon seeing an incoming train the lookout warns the other personnel adjacent the railroad track of the approaching train. The lookout may warn the others by verbal communication such as talking or yelling.
Another approach to warning the personnel is to have a person act as a railroad track walker. The responsibility of the track walker is to walk along the railroad tracks between railroad stations and look for incoming trains. Upon seeing an incoming train, the track walker warns the others by verbal communication. the distance between the track walker and the others is too far for verbal communication, the track walker may be provided with a Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter and transmit a verbal warning signal to a designated person having an RF receiver for receiving the verbal warning. Upon hearing the verbal warning from the track walker via the RF receiver, the designated receiver person warns the others by verbal communication.
A primary disadvantage associated with the above identified approaches is that, at times, the lookout personnel may become distracted. As a result of being distracted, the lookout personnel and the other personnel in proximity to the railroad track may be at risk.
Another primary disadvantage associated with the above identified approaches is that sometimes heavy machinery such as a crane may be being used for working adjacent the railroad tracks. A part of the machinery may intrude over the space above the railroad tracks. Accordingly, the machinery has to be moved to avoid a collision with the incoming train. In these situations, the machine operators need to be provided with a warning ample time ahead of the arrival of the train to be able to move the machinery. However, if the operator is working in a cab in the machinery it may be difficult to communicate with the operator. Valuable time may be lost in attempting to get the attention of the operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,369 discloses a railroad in-cab signaling system for providing enhanced communication between a train and a railroad signal. The train has an RF transceiver for communicating with an RF transceiver provided with the railroad signal. As disclosed, this patent does not address warning personnel in proximity to railroad tracks of an approaching train.
Japanese Patent 4-126664 (A) discloses a railroad communication system. A track supervisor receives an RF train passage signal and then subsequently transmits an RF alarm signal to an alarm receiver carried by each worker. The alarm receiver checks the alarm signal to determine whether the alarm signal has been sent to its own station.
Japanese Kokai No. 52-35504 discloses a railroad safety system for informing train passengers on a platform of an incoming train. A detector on the railroad tracks generates an audible alarm signal at the platform when a train passes over the detector. Although this application describes a system for warning passengers or personnel of an incoming train, a more direct and a quieter way is needed to warn personnel in proximity to railroad tracks of an approaching incoming train. Among other things, a quieter way needs to be provided which does not intrude upon the tranquility of the area around the railroad tracks such as a residential neighborhood.